SWAT unit kills St. Paul family's 2 pit bulls in raid

Ladelle Arman rides family dog Mellow in summer 2013. Mellow and Laylo, right, were fatally shot by St. Paul police executing a search warrant on July 9, 2014, inside the family's home on Maryland Avenue. (Photo courtesy Camille Perry)

Camille Perry says she was getting ready for work Wednesday morning when she saw her front door being flung open and a police SWAT team member shoot the St. Paul family's two dogs.

Perry, who is eight months pregnant, ran to her two children who had been sleeping nearby and threw herself over them to protect them.

"The whole time all I could scream was, 'Stop shooting, stop shooting!' " Perry said Thursday.

The two pit bulls were killed.

"An officer believed they were acting in an aggressive manner," said Sgt. Paul Paulos, a St. Paul police spokesman. "He thought he'd be bit or the dogs would bite one of the team members."

Perry and her fiance, Larry L.

Arman, said the dogs had been sleeping by the front door and did nothing more than bark when police used a ram to break down the door of their home to execute a search warrant.

The warrant wasn't publicly available in court as of Thursday. Perry and Arman said it indicated police were looking for marijuana, drug packaging, weighing equipment, guns, computers and more. Police took only a water pipe, a grinder that may have had marijuana residue and some clothes, according to Arman. No one was arrested.

The warrant mentioned Arman, but not Perry, the couple said. Arman said he smokes marijuana recreationally but doesn't sell it.

Minneapolis police had obtained the search warrant, and they executed it with the assistance of the St.

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Paul police SWAT team, Paulos said.

John Elder, a Minneapolis police spokesman, said that because of the ongoing investigation, he couldn't answer a reporter's questions about the nature of the search warrant or what police found.

Perry and Arman said if police had knocked on the door of their house, they would have had no problem with opening the door and letting police search.

"I don't have anything to hide," Perry said, referring to herself and Arman as hard-working homeowners.

Larry Arman, left, and Camille Perry recall the scene in their home on Maryland Avenue on Wednesday morning when the St. Paul police SWAT team entered their home and killed their two pit bull dogs while doing a "no-knock" search of their home. (Pioneer Press: Ginger Pinson)

They live on East Maryland Avenue near Jackson Street.

Police need to have probable cause to obtain search warrants; judges issue them. Police can seek permission to serve a warrant without knocking if they believe evidence might be destroyed or there is a concern about officers' safety, among other reasons.

"Just for them to be used means that there is a high probability of danger to other officers or units in the department and/or to the public, so it is scrutinized at a very high level," Smith said in an interview last summer.

Police came in Larry Arman and Camille Perry's St. Paul home Wednesday with a search warrant and fatally shot their dogs.

Last year, the St. Paul SWAT team was used 32 times for warrants and six dogs were encountered with no injuries to the animals, Paulos said. This year, SWAT has been called out 23 times for warrants, and they've encountered four dogs without incident, he said.

About 7 a.m. Wednesday, Arman said, he and his sons, ages 4 and 7, were sleeping on the first floor when police came in the home. Perry was getting ready for work nearby.

"The gunshots scared the living daylights out of me, and knowing that they were in such close range of the dog and where we were laying with my kids made it worse," Perry said. "Our oldest dog actually ran back to protect us in front of the bed and they kept shooting her, even though we were laying right there."

Perry and Arman estimated they were two to three feet from the dog named Laylo, who was 10 years old.

"If my dog would have ran a little closer to me, that bullet could have went through the dog and hit me," Arman said.

Dave Titus, St. Paul Police Federation president, said he was told the family was not in danger and the dogs were "an immediate threat to officers."

Paulos said that before police fire a gun, they "look at the backdrop, they look at the security and safety of the situation. If they felt for any reason they were going to put that family in danger, I do believe they would have taken the dog bite themselves. They would not fire knowing the round could possibly go through and strike a child or the occupants of the home.

Larry Arman says the blood on his shoes came from his two pitbulls that were shot dead when the the St. Paul police SWAT team entered his home while doing a "no knock" search. (Pioneer Press: Ginger Pinson)

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Police always review cases when an officer uses his or her gun, Paulos said.

The officer fired six shots at the dogs, Perry and Arman said. Their other dog, Mellow, was 5 years old.

Nicole Miller said she heard the shots from inside her home next door. She said that later, Arman and Perry's 4-year-old son asked her, "Did you see all the soldiers?" referring to the SWAT officers.

Miller described Laylo and Mellow as good dogs. "I would sit out here every morning and have my coffee, and Mellow and Laylo would run up and show me so much love," she said. "They wouldn't hurt a fly; they'd lick you to death."

St. Paul Animal Control had several calls between 2006 and 2010 involving Arman and his dogs, primarily reports of their running at large, said Robert Humphrey, Department of Safety and Inspections spokesman. He did not see reports of Laylo or Mellow biting people.

Perry doesn't have a criminal record, Minnesota court records show. Arman last got out of prison a decade ago for a felony assault conviction. He had earlier convictions for drug possession and possession of a pistol by a felon. He was convicted of misdemeanor DWI in 2011.

The couple speculated that police may have been suspicious of Arman because of his past. They also wonder if the business they started earlier this year, Arman Topkick Towing, drew police attention because it has people coming and going from their home. In addition to towing, they buy old cars, fix them up and sell them, the couple said.

"I just believe they didn't investigate enough," Perry said of the police. "If you want to investigate, investigate. Take pictures, get recordings, catch us doing something. You can't assume just because we have assets that we've got them from selling drugs. We're business owners, and we work hard."

The couple said they were left with a house full of damage. Police tossed the house during the search, tearing out insulation from a wall and pulling out vents, Perry said. Police broke their screen door and front door, and Arman said he had to replace both of them.

The couple has an attorney and said they're planning to sue police.

A previous lawsuit against St. Paul police involving a search warrant the SWAT team executed ended with a $400,000 settlement in 2012. A woman was seriously burned by a flash-bang device in that case.

In March, a St. Paul SWAT officer was shot while executing a search warrant, and Titus has said he escaped injury by having his tactical vest on. The man whose home police had been entering to search was charged with attempted murder. Police shot and wounded him after he shot the officer, according to the criminal complaint.